The toys are taking over!
Which came first - the toy or the film? Spin-off merchandise from cinema hits has been with us for decades. But more and more movies these days are turning that pattern on its head - with Hollywood reguarly raiding the toybox in search of new film franchises.
With the Transformers sequel and GI Joe hitting the big screen this summer and Mattell keen to make a film based on its Hot Wheels cars, we take a look at how toys are taking over.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - out now
The first Transformers movie was one of the loudest box office blockbuster of 2007. Now here comeds the sequel, which sees high school student Sam Witwicky preparing for his first year at college after defeating power-hungry Megatron and his Decepticon minions. But after bidding farewell to Bumblebee, Mikaela and his parents, Sam begins to have visions of hieroglyphs which indicate that Autobot leader Optimus Prime has been keep secrets from him.
GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra - out 6 August
Action Man might be better known to UK audiences but GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra is still set to be a huge summer hit. There's a strong British flavour to the cast list, which includes Dennis Quaid, Sienna Miller, Jonathan Pryce, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Christopher Eccleston, in a film which will see an elite military team battling to save the world from the evil-doers who work for Cobra.
Toy Story 3 - out July 2010
There's a treat in store for Toy Story fans over the next year. After a gap of a decade, Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are back as the voices of Woody and Buzz - this time finding themselves dumped in a children's daycare centre after Andy leaves home for college. If that's not enough to whet your appetite until its release in the summer of 2010, the first two Toy Story movies are being re-released in 3D in cinemas before then - Toy Story (2 October) and Toy Story 2 (22 January, 2010).
